Lashkar man held in Hyderabad had orders to bomb Delhi

TNN | May 4, 2010, 04.46 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Lashkar operative
arrested by Hyderabad Police on Friday, Zia-ul-Haq, was tasked by the Pakistani
terror outfit to bomb Delhi on Saturday — the day the Capital went into
full alert mode following an interception of an "imminent" terror
attack.

Sources in security agencies here said the 34-year-old Haq,
member of a Lashkar sleeper cell in India, was specifically asked to target
foreigners in Delhi using grenades.

Police recovered two grenades and
a pistol from him. It was found that the Lashkar jihadi was also involved in a
grenade attack on a theatre in Hyderabad in 2006. He had since then been
underground and had set up a sleeper cell to carry out similar attacks as and
when instructed by his handlers in Pakistan, sources said.

Since the
intercepts on Friday clearly hinted at foreigners being targets, the US, UK and
Australian missions issued advisories on Saturday morning, warning their
citizens against terror threats in market places like Connaught Place, Greater
Kailash, Lajpat Nagar and Chandni Chowk and near government offices.